In this thesis, rational Bayesian models and the Theory-theory are bridged to explore ways in which children can be described as Bayesian scientists. I investigate what it means for children to take a rational approach to ...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by cognitive decline and memory loss. Although much is known about how AD affects the brain, the cause of this disease remains elusive. Current AD ...

While the mechanisms preserving genomic integrity are well defined in proliferating cells, corresponding pathways in postmitotic neurons remain poorly understood. In this report, I characterize the functions of two lysine ...

The neuronal serine/threonine kinase cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is activated by its regulatory subunit, p35, to post-translationally modify substrates through phosphorylation. In this thesis, I provide several lines ...

This dissertation considers ambiguity resolution in regard to two issues. First, it investigates factors that lead the human parser to favour some types of interpretations over others when faced with some types of ambiguous ...

What is the nature of the neural processes that allow humans to remember past events? The theoretical framework adopted in this thesis builds upon cognitive models that suggest that episodic retrieval can be decomposed ...

The hippocampus is a highly conserved structure in the medial temporal lobe of the brain that is known to be critical for spatial learning in rodents, and spatial and episodic memory in humans. During pauses in exploration, ...

Any given object in the world can cast an effectively infinite number of different images onto the retina, depending on its position relative to the viewer, the configuration of light sources, and the presence of other ...

Midbrain dopamine has demonstrated roles in locomotion, motivation, associative learning, habit formation, action selection and cognition. The many functions of dopamine can be attributed to the multiple projection targets ...

The basal ganglia form the largest sub-cortical structure in the human brain and are implicated in numerous human diseases. In songbirds, as in mammals, basal ganglia-forebrain circuits are necessary for the learning and ...

Neocortex learns predictive models of sensory input, allowing mammals to anticipate future events. A fundamental component of this process is the comparison between expected and actual sensory input, and the layered ...